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Leader's LetterJune 2003
A Decade of New Zealand First“In a nation of optimists it is disturbing that ordinary people are apprehensive about their future and more so for that of their families. Why is that?” A quote from the speech of Rt Hon
Winston Peters at the launch of New
Zealand First at Alexandra Park,
Auckland 1993. He also said:
“Let us stop looking to others to solve
our problems. New Zealand First stands by these words. We have not changed our ideals in the last ten years. On July 18 we celebrate our tenth anniversary with 13 MPs and, as the third largest party in Parliament. It has been a rollercoaster ride that has seen the party go through the best of times and the worst of times - in the first MMP coalition Government with National in 1996, and then the problems of 1999. Through all this we have learnt valuable lessons but have no regrets and we are now the only effective Opposition in Parliament. Sometimes it is hard to believe that so much has happened in the past ten years. After winning the by-election for Tauranga, Winston went on to win again at the general election at the end of 1993, accompanied by the now departed Tau Henare. That year also marked the start of the ‘Wine Box’ affair, which would continue for nearly seven years. The final court case in the Wine Box affairs vindicated Winston’s efforts on behalf of ordinary New Zealanders and tax laws were changed to close some of the corporate loopholes. However, to this day no prosecutions have been started and no reasonable explanations have been given for this. It appears that there are still different standards applied to some of the less endearing corporate behaviour in this country. In 1996 New Zealand First exploded into the political arena with more than 13 MPs including all the Maori seats. Remember, this was only three years after the start of the party. At that time, with a new electoral system in place, we had to show to the world that New Zealand could form a stable government under proportional representation. As a result we held our noses and went with National. Politics is about numbers and only with National were ew Zealand First the numbers sufficient to form a government. Labour and the Alliance were not even on speaking terms and there were no guarantees of confidence and supply from those quarters. This part of New Zealand’s political history continues to escape most commentators. Our three-year coalition plan contributed more to the social fabric of this country than any other party for more than three decades:Agreement to remove income and asset testing of older people in long-stay public hospital care and asset testing of older people in long-stay private hospital care from October 1998 (on which National reneged). Free doctors visits and prescriptions for children under six. $1.5 billion extra education funding over the next three years. 500 extra front-line police in 1998. $1.5b additional health funding including 30,000 more elective operations. Removal of the Superannuation surtax. Pay parity for teachers. Stopped the privatisation programme and removed the profit motive from the health system. In 1998 National started panicking about its polling results and some individuals wanted to revert to the asset-selling policies of Roger Douglas and Ruth Richardson. Instead of abiding by the coalition agreement, after rolling Jim Bolger, Jenny Shipley made it clear to New Zealand First that National was going to renege on the coalition deal about the sale of national assets. One of New Zealand First’s policies is to restrict the sale of State owned assets so when National started flogging off Wellington Airport we had to object. The coalition was over but the worst setback was the lack of loyalty by a number of MPs who deserted the party for the trappings of office. It is interesting that none of them survived in politics. The worst of times came in the 1999 election. We were punished for going with National and the waka-jumpers brought shame to the party, and particularly to themselves. After the 1999 election the party spent the next term restructuring and rebuilding credibility and promulgating policy. It worked, and along with an innovative and focused election campaign in 2002 New Zealand First came back as the third largest party in Parliament with 13 disciplined MPs. We now hold a position of dominance amongst the Opposition parties and we continue to work towards building a platform based on sound economic sense and policies that will work for all New Zealanders. We campaigned on the three main issues impeding our future;
Ten years later we still try to be optimistic but too many politicians lack the courage to grasp the nettle and act in the interests of the people. New Zealand First has never lacked political courage and we pledge that we will spend the next ten years putting our policies to work and making New Zealand a nation in which all members of the community share in the economic and social rewards.
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Foreign is not better. New
Zealand can be best if New Zealand is
put first!”|
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